In the automotive field, contact systems are used in electrical plug connections in which the individual contact pieces are attached to, that is, fastened to the electrical lines in a first working step, and in a second working step are latched in the contact chambers of plug contact housings. In this connection, two primary latching mechanisms are used. In the so-called “clean-body contacts”, elements of the contact chamber snap into recesses or undercuts of the contact chamber and in this manner latch to the contact pieces. The present invention relates to contact systems for clean-body contacts.
Besides these, there are contact systems having so-called “lance contacts”. In the case of these, flexible elements of the contact body latch in recesses or in undercuts in the contact chamber. In both types of primary latching elements, generally, filigree elements of the contact body or the contact chamber are involved, which perform the double function, on the one hand, of bringing the latching surfaces to engagement and, on the other hand, of producing the retention force that might have to be set against a possible traction on the electrical line. The compromise in construction, made in many cases to fulfill this double function, is usually at the expense of the achievable primary retention force.